Several intriguing football jobs remain open at Bay Area high schools, but California has removed itself from that list with a heavyweight hire.

If Dan Calcagno sounds like a familiar name in the East Bay, well, it is. Calcagno, who had successful tenures at San Leandro and Chabot College, will replace Eric Billeci at the San Ramon school. Billeci stepped down last month after 11 seasons with the Grizzlies.

Calcagno also is a familiar name in the South Bay, where Greg Calcagno coaches at St. Francis. Dan Calcagno said Monday that he and Greg might be distant cousins, but he isn’t sure if they’re related. He did go to school with Greg Calcagno’s younger brother Kevin at Sonoma State.

Family ties or not, Dan Calcagno’s hiring at California could be just as much of a home run as Greg Calcagno has been at St. Francis.

Dan Calcagno was at San Leandro for eight years from 1995-2002. He had a 65-28 record, won four championships in the old Hayward Area Athletic League and took the Pirates to four successive North Coast Section 4A championship games. They lost to De La Salle on all four occasions.

He also produced several big-time players including Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon, and defensive backs Jarrad Page (UCLA) and Marviel Underwood (San Diego State). All three played in the NFL.

Former Chabot College football coach Danny Calcagno works with British Olympic sprinter Dwain Chambers, who joined Chabot’s team and would go on to play in NFL Europe. (Aric Crabb / Staff file photo in 2004) 

His next stop was Chabot. He was head coach from 2003-2016 and has spent the last three years as an assistant. He will continue to teach physical education at Chabot for now. His son Jake will be a junior wide receiver on the Grizzlies next season.

Billeci coached the Grizzlies for 11 years and had only one sub-.500 season — his first. But Billeci wants to spend more time with his two young children and was also concerned about the declining number of football players coming out at California.

Calcagno didn’t intend on becoming the head man when he first approached California athletic director Tyler Roberts about coaching there.

“I was going to ask about helping out,” Calcagno said. “I’m not sure who applied and there were no teaching jobs. But I had time, so I decided to throw my hat into the ring.”

One of the assistants who might come along with Calcagno is former James Logan coach Neal Fromson, who had a dominant program for many years in the Mission Valley Athletic League. Another key hire will be the defensive coordinator since Calcagno and Fromson prefer the offensive side of the ball.

The schedule in Calcagno’s first season at Cal will be brutal. There will be games with East Bay Athletic League-Mountain Division opponents De La Salle, Clayton Valley Charter, Monte Vista, San Ramon Valley and Amador Valley, which is switching divisions with Foothill.

The EBAL Mountain is the toughest league/division in the East Bay, and it might be the same for the Bay Area. It certainly rivals the WCAL that runs from San Jose to San Francisco.

In addition, there are no cupcakes on the non-league slate that includes the season-opener with James Logan, followed by Antioch, Freedom and Dublin. The Grizzlies have one open date Calcagno is trying to fill.

Although Calcagno was an All-Northern California quarterback for San Leandro and led the state in touchdown passes in 1984, his best sport in high school appears to have been baseball. He was a four-year varsity catcher at San Leandro, where he graduated in 1986, and was drafted by the Giants.

Calcagno continued to play two sports at Chabot and Sonoma State. He was inducted into the Sonoma State University Hall of Fame in 2014.